ARP Odyssey: now in app form

Korg launches ARP ODYSSEi app for iOS devices

The app looks like the classic synth but adds the enhancements found on Korg's own modern hardware recreations

Korg has released an app version of the classic ARP Odyssey analogue synthesizer.

The original ARP Odyssey first hit the market in 1972. It was a scaled-down version of the ARP 2600, and was released as a response to the success of the Minimoog, which Moog had issued a couple of years earlier. There were three different generations of the synth over the years: the Odyssey Mk 1, (model 2800, produced 1972-75), Mk 2 (models 2810-2815, produced 1975-78), and Mk 3 (models 2820-2823, produced 1978-81).

Production ceased in 1981, but in 2015 Korg launched the Korg ARP Odyssey, a modern version which added MIDI and USB MIDI connectivity, which it recently followed with the desktop, keyboard-less ARP Odyssey Module. And now, Korg has used its advanced circuit-modeling technology, CMT, to create an iOS version of this classic analogue beast.

ARP ODYSSEi, as the app's known, comes complete with all the enhancements that are unique to its own recreations. It's polyphonic, for a start (the original ARP Odyssey was mono) and features the Drive function, which adds distortion, that Korg added in 2015. Another neat touch is that the app allows you to toggle between the three different colourways in which the original ARP Odyssey was available (black/orange, white/black and gold).

The video below will give you some idea of the app's capabilities, while there are full technical details available on the Korg website.

ARP ODYSSEi is available for iPad and iPhone on the iTunes store now, at a special introductory price of $19.99 until 30 November.